NSW ARTIST AMALA GROOM ANNOUNCED AS A FINALIST IN THIS YEAR’S NATSIAA AWARDS

It is currently Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June). Finalists have been announced for this year’s Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) which showcases the best in Australian Indigenous art by contemporary artists. The awards are Australia’s longest running and most prestigious indigenous art awards.

New South Wales indigenous artist Amala Groom, born in Bathurst,  has been announced as one of the finalists. Her artwork reflects the tumultuous nature of our times 

The artwork is a reappropriation of a famed colonial painting by celebrated artist Frederick McCubbin. A print of the famed artwork ‘Down on His Luck’, was found discarded in a carpark near the artist’s home amidst the bushfire crisis and the COVID 19 pandemic. Titled The Fifth Element, the artwork is a conceptual intervention into the Australian canon of art history. 

Groom says: ‘In what can only be considered as ‘uncertain times’, and, with the impending events of the 250 years of colonial commemoration upon us, this work seeks to act as a demonstrative reminder that we are ngumbaay-dyil (all together in one place – “all are one”).”

The artwork has a message which embraces love and inclusivity. Amala is the only New South Wales artist to be a finalist in the 2020 Telstra NATSIAA exhibition.

The winner will be announced in August when the exhibition opens at MAGNT in Darwin

https://www.magnt.net.au/natsiaa